Washington, Part 13: the 12th and 13th of February

As the saying goes, all good things must...and so, with much regret, we bade goodbye to family and country, and returned to T'ái​wān​ 台灣. Thanks to the International Date Line, we left Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on a Saturday afternoon sometime after 1pm, and arrived at Tái​wān Táo​yuán​ International Airport 臺灣桃園國際機場 late on Sunday night (around 10:30 or so). It was a long flight (though thankfully a smooth one), with delays at both ends - at Sea-Tac, we had to wait on the runway while the Delta crew tried to deal with a "weight imbalance", while our first landing attempt at Táo​yuán 桃園 had to be aborted due to "foreign objects" on the runway there (we touched down on our second try, and on a different runway). By the time we had cleared Immigration, claimed our bags, picked up our car from a nearby long-term parking garage and made the drive to Fēng​yuán​ 豐原 on the freeway, it was already 1:30 on a Monday morning (and I didn't actually get into bed until around 3:30 after showering and unpacking). I should be forgiven, then, for electing go into work in the afternoon rather than in the morning.

All three of us had a great time in Washington. For my wife, it was a much-needed break from her job, and she enjoyed just taking it easy at my parents house. For me, it was a much-needed (though too-brief) respite from T'ái​wān, as well as a treasured time to see my Mom and Dad again, and to spend time with my sister and her family. As for my daughter, it was a much-needed opportunity to reconnect with her other culture, and I'm pleased to report that she did so swimmingly! Amber had no trouble at all dealing with the different environment - in fact, she plunged right in from Day One. I was especially relieved to see her play with other kids using only English.

One day I hope our flight to the USA will be on a one-way ticket, instead of a round-trip from T'ái​wān. Until that day comes, all of us are looking forward to our next opportunity to visit my family in the Pacific Northwest.

The silhouette of Mount Fuji 富士山 was visible from the terminal at Narita International Airport 成田国際空港 as were changing flights. In all the many times I've been to, from and through Narita, I'd never seen Fuji-san from there before.

A tired-looking Amber shows off the "red envelope" 紅包 she received upon arriving at Táo​yuán​. Inside was a NT1 (3¢/¥3) coin. I thought it was a nice gesture to welcome the kids back to Tái​wān​ during the Lunar New Year 春節 holiday.